Yemen: Urgent Need for Independent International Inquiry on Yemen

Joint NGO letter to Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council

Excellency,

We, the
undersigned nongovernmental organizations, urge you to support the creation
of an independent international investigation
into violations and abuses of international human rights law and international
humanitarian law in Yemen since the start of the current conflict. This is a call that
has been made since 2015by national, regional, and
international civil society organizations, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights, and the Security Council Panel of Experts on Yemen. The number of
abuses, and the need for credible international investigations, has only
increased since 2015.

Yemen is now enduring the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with
at least seven million
people on the brink of famine and
hundreds
of thousands suffering from cholera. This crisis
is manmade, with the war deepening and exacerbating the humanitarian situation
in the Middle East’s poorest country, and both sides impeding the
delivery of humanitarian
aid. As the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross said at the
end of his visit to Yemen in July 2017, “Unless
the warring parties improve their respect of the laws of war, I am afraid we
must expect more epidemics in the future.”

Since March 2015, at least 5,110 civilians have been killed and at
least 8,719 wounded in the armed conflict, according to
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Serious violations of international
humanitarian law and violations and abuses of international human rights law by
parties to the conflict have continued to be committed with impunity. The Saudi
Arabia-led coalition has conducted scores of unlawful airstrikes, some of which
may amount to warcrimes, that have killed thousands of civilians and
hit schools, hospitals, markets, and homes. The Houthi armed group and forces loyal to
former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have fired weapons indiscriminately into
populated areas in Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia and used explosive weapons
with wide-scale effects in cities such as Taizz and Aden, killing and maiming scores in attacks that may amount to war crimes.

Both sides have
harassed, arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared Yemeni activists, human
rights defenders
and journalists, shrinking the space for civil society groups and
the media to operate throughout the country. The number of the “missing” is
also growing: Houthi-Saleh forces, forces affiliated with the Yemeni government
of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and the United Arab Emirates and UAE-backed Yemeni
forces have arbitrarily
detained or forcibly disappeared hundreds, denying family members access to
their loved ones or even information on the fate of those detained.

In September 2015,
the Human Rights Council called on the Yemeni government, with support from the
OHCHR, “to ensure the effective investigation, with a view to ending impunity,
into all cases of violations and abuse of human rights and of violations of
international humanitarian law.” In September 2016, the Council strengthened
the mandate of the OHCHR, requesting the High Commissioner “to
allocate additional international human rights experts to the Office of the
High Commissioner in Yemen to complement the investigatory work of the national
commission, while collecting and preserving information to establish the facts
and circumstances of alleged violations and abuses.”

While the 2016 resolution sought to strengthen the OHCHR presence in
Yemen, this has been difficult in practice. The Houthi-Saleh side has publicly refused to cooperate with the
Yemeni national commission or OHCHR in its capacity implementing the resolution.
In March 2017, the Deputy High Commissioner expressed concerns about the National
Commission, noting it has failed “to
comply with internationally recognized standards of methodology and
impartiality,” and has “yet to clarify how its work could facilitate viable
mechanisms of accountability.” The Saudi-led
coalition’s investigative mechanism (JIAT) has also failed to conduct credible
investigations into alleged violations and abuses. The coalition has called
into question its purported commitment to accountability with continued blanket
denials of violations and abuses documented by a number of crediblesources. Last year, Saudi Arabia threatened to withdraw funding
from critical UN programs if the Secretary-General did not remove the coalition
from his annual “list of shame” for violations against children.

For two years, the High Commissioner has called for
and continues to call for an
independent international investigation.

The victims of abuses
in Yemen cannot afford to wait longer for credible investigations into ongoing
grave violations and abuses to be undertaken. We therefore call on the Human
Rights Council to establish, during its thirty-sixth session, an independent international
inquiry to investigate alleged violations and abuses of international human
rights law and violations of international humanitarian law committed by all
parties to the conflict in Yemen. The inquiry should be given the mandate to
establish the facts and circumstances, and to collect and preserve evidence
of, and clarify responsibility for, alleged violations and abuses of international
human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, with a view to ending impunity and providing
accountability.

We urge you to
support the creation of such an inquiry by the Council during upcoming session.

15.Defend
Defenders (the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)

16.Dove Tales

17.English
PEN

18.European-Saudi
Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR)

19.Friends
Committee on National Legislation, US

20.Global
Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

21.Gulf
Centre for Human Rights

22.Human
Rights and Democracy Media Centers (SHAMS)

23.Human Rights Defenders Network, Sierra Leone

24.Human
Rights Law Centre, Australia

25.Human
Rights Watch

26.InterAfrica
Group

27.International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

28.International
Platform against Impunity

29.International
Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

30.MADRE

31.Marib
Dam Foundation for Social Development, Yemen

32.Medecins
du Monde

33.Migrant
Forum in Asia

34.Mwatana
Organisation for Human Rights, Yemen

35.NGO
Working Group on Women, Peace and Security

36.Pan
African Human Rights Defenders Network

37.Partnership
for Justice, Nigeria

38.PAX

39.PEN
International

40.Physicians
for Human Rights

41.Reprieve

42.Saferworld

43.Society
for Threatened Peoples, Germany

44.Win
Without War, US

45.World
Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

46.Yemen
Peace Project, US

47.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

48.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

49.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

50.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

51.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

52.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

53.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

54.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

55.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

56.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

57.[Name
withheld], Yemen*

*Eleven
other Yemeni organizations endorsed the letter, but asked for the names of
their organizations to be withheld from the public list due to fears of
retaliation. Their names are on file with Human Rights Watch.